id unveils new engine at Apple event

Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein studio id has today taken the wraps off its new engine, dubbed id Tech 5, during Apple Computers's World Wide Developer Conference.

During a keynote hosted by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the studio's lead programmer and famed developer John Carmack demonstrated the new technology running on Mac hardware and confirmed that the studio was working on a new game based on the engine.

According to a liveblog by Ryan Block on Engadget he explained: "So the last couple of years at id we've been working in secrecy on next-gen tech and a game for it. This is the first time we're showing anything we've done on it publicly.

"What we've got here is the entire world with unique textures - 20GB of textures covering this track. They can go in and look at the world and, say, change the color of the mountaintop, or carve their name into the rock. They can change as much as they want on surfaces with no impact on the game."

Carmack added that studio will be demoing the software on Mac, PC, 360 and PS3 at E3 in July.

Jobs' keynote wasn't light on other game announcements either - EA's Bing Gordon took to the stage alongside the Apple chief to announce a new Mac-focused initiative from the world's number one game publisher.

EA is going to release Mac versions of the already-released or imminent Command and Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, Need For Speed Carbon and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix plus upcoming versions of Madden and Tiger Woods titles.